It's May Already?

These aren't our grapes, but you can see Spring is busting out all over.

Another busy week on the farm. We've been killing weeds, fertilizing and irrigating the almonds and the wheat. The wheat looks beautiful. The heads are filling out. This will be the last water. We'll let the heads fill out, then dry down and we'll harvest in late June or early July.
    The cotton looks good.

   For such little plants the roots are already strong and growing.
This isn't the best picture, but I have a reason for sharing it with you. Can you see the little weed on the right? That's our next problem. We can't cultivate them with a tractor because weeds like that are in the seed line with the cotton. Hand weeding is expensive. This cotton is Roundup Ready we we can spray Roundup over the top. It is pretty amazing technology and helps us keep our fields clean of weeds.
   The irony is even that is controversial . I heard on the news this week that people are trying to get a ballot measure ready for the November California ballot that would require labeling on all GMO food. For my two cents on that issue you can read the script for a future radio bit.

Labels and What is Really Dangerous
by Paul H. Betancourt
copyright May 2012

                Do you remember Prop 65? The Nanny-government folks wanted labels on every building that contained cancer causing chemicals. That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? What was the result? Nearly every commercial building in California  has a Prop 65 label on it. Do all those labels make us safer? I don’t think so.

                Now the folks who want to scare you about your food are at it again. There will probably be a ballot measure in November to put labels on GMO food. GMO’s use the same technology used to create new medicines and splice genes in to seeds to kill bad bugs or make plants herbicide resistant. Now I am very happy people are concerned about the food we eat. That’s a good thing.

                Here’s the irony as I see it- for a generation activists have wanted farmers to use less pesticides. We come up with a technology to that meets their demand they protest that. I don’t know where to go from there. I have seen zero evidence that says GMO’s are any threat to us.

                I suspect the ballot proposition will pass. We will have new labels on our food that we will ignore and nothing will be accomplished except scaring people unnecessarily about their food. This proposition will not do anything about real food issues like getting excess fats and salts out of our diets.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P